Improvement in submarine excavating apparatus



3 Sheets-Sheet 2 C. PONTEZ.

SUBMARINE EXCAVATING APPARATUS. No. 175,158. Patented March 21,1876.

I (IQYIIILIIIIIIIIII I INVENTOR wmz 2 WM N-PETERS, PHDTO-UTROGMPHER. WASHINGTON, D C.

PATENT OFFICE.

. oitAnnnsronnnz, on OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

nvleaoyelv snr lhl SUB MARINEEXCAVATING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Itettersl 'atentNo. 1:75,!58, dated March 21, 1876; application filed f, Q a January29,1876. i

resentations of vertical sections of a shaft and my machine forsubmarine excavating.

My invention relatesto making excavations under water and laying submerged columns for foundations; and it consists in the constructiori and general arrangement of devices for making such excavations and laying such columns, as will be hereinafter more fullyset forth.

In the annexed'drawings, A represents an excavating-chamber, formed preferably of two wooden shells, one within the other, and the space between them filled with cement and stiflened by iron ribs, to give the necessary weight and strength. "This chamber may be made of any suitable dimensions at the bottom, and is contracted gradually toward the top, as shown, and on top of said chamber is the working-deck O, of iron, bolted firmly to the wooden shells. ,From the center of the deck (J rises a cylinder or shaft, B, extending from the interior of the excavating-chamber A to and above the surface of the water. I This shaft serves as an air-lock and as a guide-post to the tender hereinafter described. Alongside of this shaft is another cylinder, D, pro, jecting upward from the deck only a few feet, and having an interior air-lock to give access to the excavating-chamber below. T represents the tender, which is a vessel of suitable heightsay eight feet, more or lessopen at the bottom, and provided in its upper part with a water-ballast chamber, G. iPassing through thischamber is the man-hole H, which serves as entrance and exit when the tender is above the surface of the water. lhrough the center of the tender T, extending from top The area of the lower open end of the tender is a little larger than that of the working-deck O of the excavating-chamber, permitting said deck to enter the chamber for a short distance. When in this position the excavating-chamber and tender may be regarded as one structure divided by the deck 0 into two compartments, communicating with each other by means of doors in the cylinder D. But to maintain this communication it is not necessary that the tender and chamber should be in contact. The tender may be suspended one, two, or three feet above the workingdeck, or to a height not above the top level of the cylinder D, thus leaving a space between the workingdeck and the tender through which the workmen can reach the outer sides of the excavating-chamber. Work is commenced by inclosing the area to be excavated by a sheeting,

and the excavating-chamber with its shaft is then sunk within the area, and to it is lowered the tender T with the workmen within. The water being forced out of the excavating-chamber, the door of communication D is opened, and the men descend to work, passing the material excavated into the tender, which at intervals transports it to the surface, the door D being then closed. The workmen, on any emergency, can meanwhile obtain exit from the excavating-chamber through the shaft B. As the excavation proceeds,instead of sustaining the sides of the excavation by cylinders, sheet-piling G is driven from above and held in place by iron rods a a, placed at intervals of a few feet and braced by expanding screw-bars b. These are placed by the men from the deck of the excavating-chamber, access, as before explained, being had to the sides of the shaft by raising the tender a sufvating-chamber and air-lock shaft are removed, leaving only the sides of the chamber. This is filled in with concrete laid by the workmen within the tender, where a canvas chute, S, passes down into the well in the center of the tender, through which concrete is passed to the base. As the column of concrete or masonry progresses upward the sheathing and bracing are removed and sent up, to serve a like purpose for the next column.

By this invention I am enabled to form foundations of masonry or concrete to the same depth as attainable by the use of cylinders or caissons when sunk by what is termed the plenum process, and, as I dispense with theluse of iron cylinders, I consequently effect a great savingin the cost of material, transportation, and contingent expenses. There is neither transporting nor handling heavy masses of iron. Furthermore, the difficulty of sinking cylinders arising from friction on the external surface, and also from the indirect descent, is avoided.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The tender T, provided with' the waterchamber G, well E, and man-hole H, substan; tially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the excavating-chamber A and tender '1. with: air-lock D, as a means for outer communication, forming one apparatus, the lower part coveringthe whole area excavated, and the upper portion of diminished size to allow it to ascend through the excavated shaft, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above 1 have hereunto subscribed my name in-the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES PONTEZ. Witnesses:

J. O. HOLTORF, W. H. POTTER. 

